1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picture display controller, moving-picture information transmission/reception system, picture display controlling method, moving-picture information transmitting/receiving method, and a computer program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a picture display controller, moving-picture information transmission/reception system, picture display controlling method, moving-picture information transmitting/receiving method, and a computer program, capable of free switching between a display mode in which a plurality of pictures having been taken from different viewpoints or in different sight line directions are displayed in a predetermined order of data output and a display mode in which pictures are selected for display at the user's own will.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, picture data viewable from different viewpoints, such as a panoramic picture, full-celestial picture, etc. have been utilized more and more. For example, there has been proposed a system in which pictures of an object, having been taken from a plurality of viewpoints or sight line directions, can be stored in a storage medium such as DVD, CD, etc. and the stored pictures displayed on a display such as a CRT (cathode ray tube), liquid crystal display (LCD) device or the like can be viewed from the viewpoint moved to a freely selected position by the user operating a controller when displaying. Also, there has been proposed a system in which pictures of an object, having been taken from a plurality of viewpoints or sight line directions, can be distributed via a communications system such as Internet to the users and each user can selectively display the pictures, having been taken from his preferred viewpoint or sight line direction, on a display of a personal computer (PC) or the like by operating a mouse of the PC.
Picture data viewable from different viewpoints are produced by splicing a plurality of pictures having been taken by cameras positioned at a corresponding plurality of viewpoints, for example, to one another. An inter-camera picture can be produced from pictures having been taken by neighboring cameras by correcting picture data, for example, by means of the view interpolation or the like. A moving picture can be produced by temporally synchronizing moving-picture data having been taken by a plurality of cameras and then making the similar processing of the synchronized data. The method of producing such an all-directional picture is known from the disclosure in the publication “ck time VR-An Image-Based Approach to Virtual Environment Navigation”, S. E. Chen, Computer Graphics SIGGRAPH, pp. 29-38, 1995.
To reproduce, for display, a picture viewable from freely selected viewpoints by reading it from a storage medium such as DVD or the like, a viewpoint from which picture data to be displayed has been taken will be selected by the user himself or according to a program preset for the picture data. In a data distribution system by broadcasting, via Internet or satellite communications network, a user-selected one of pictures having been taken from a plurality of viewpoints and having been distributed from a data provider, or only a representative picture having been predetermined at the data provider, will be displayed on a display.
In case a picture to be displayed is a still picture, the user can read still pictures viewable from preferred viewpoints one after another from a storage medium such as DVD or the like at any time for display. In case the pictures are moving pictures, however, the user will use an input device such as a mouse or a predetermined controller to select viewpoints from which he wants to view the pictures while viewing them.
On the other hand, there has also been proposed a method of selecting, for display, moving pictures, having been taken from different viewpoints, according to a program having been preset for the pictures.
In displaying moving pictures viewable from different viewpoints, such as a panoramic picture, fall-celestial moving picture, etc., selection of a viewpoint, made while the user is viewing the pictures, is effective when the user's positive will to select the viewpoints lasts. However, when the will becomes weak, the selection will bother the user. Unless a command for shifting the viewpoint from one to another is entered by the user operating the controller, a moving picture to be viewed from the last entered viewpoint will continuously be displayed, resulting in a monotonous display of the moving picture. On the other hand, the selection of a picture according to the program having been preset for the moving-picture data will lead to display of a picture to be viewed from a viewpoint independent of the user's will.
As above, when displaying moving pictures viewable from different viewpoints, the selection of viewpoints will bother the user, while selection and display of moving pictures according to a preset program will not reflect any user's will.